Month: January 2008

Pascal once wrote “Symmetry is what we see at a glance.” There will be a wickedly perfect symmetry on display Friday night at the Arena, but that’s only the superficial story. On the night that Chris Webber, the man who thrust the Warriors into a dark decade, returns to the Warriors’ bench, Jason Richardson, the man who tended the fire in the midst of that darkness, will sit at the opposite end of the court for the first time. There’s meaning here, but it’ll take the rest of the season and beyond to sort it out. Friday night is not about Webber, who might not even play. It’s a chance for Warriors fans to say hello again – and finally give a proper goodbye – to Jason Richardson.

We finally got it. After weeks of waiting for the Warriors to put together four quarters of quality basketball, they delivered the goods against the NBA’s hottest team. Wednesday night’s victory couldn’t have come at a better time or against a better opponent. 10 days after losing to the West’s worst team at home, we beat the leader of the pack on the road. Typical Warriors. That’s why we love em.

It turns out the Warriors can’t go down by 15 or 20 every game and still pull out wins. Who would have guessed? As with the loss to the Timberwolves, there shouldn’t be much more hand wringing after this game than after the New York or New Jersey wins. The team has been consistent for the last few weeks in its inconsistency. Over the course of an NBA season you never know when your point guard is going to get the flu, you’re going to have an off night from the line, the refs are going to call touch fouls from phantom limbs, or a 7-6 man named Yao is going to have his way with you. That’s why you don’t mess around. Unfortunately, the Warriors – for all of their glorious 6-minute runs – still don’t look like they can be bothered to play 48 minutes of consistently intense basketball. If the Warriors aren’t going to assert themselves to seize a playoff spot, all they can do is hope that the 8 Western teams now ahead of them are equally nonchalant about winning games against conference rivals.

The story of the modern Warriors is one of redemption. Nelson, Davis, Jackson, and Barnes have all, in their own ways, put certain demons to rest during their time with Golden State. Maybe it’s only fitting then that the Warriors put the Oracle Arena’s redemptive powers to a true test. The Boston Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino. The Warriors have the Nelson-Webber-Cohan Meltdown. Until last season’s playoff run, this team had been haunted by questions of what could have been had Nelson and Webber worked together. Now, more than a decade later and with both men in the twilights of their careers, we may finally get to find out.

Sunday night’s win against the Knicks was routine, in both good and bad ways. The fact that we consistently beat average teams in close games is nothing but encouraging. It’s the biggest reason that we’re sitting in the playoffs right now despite a miserable start while teams like the Jazz and Rockets are on the outside looking in. At the same time, I can’t help but worry that this team has become so good at turning it on for short bursts, such as Sunday’s fourth quarter, that they’ve lost the focus to play 48 minutes of steady basketball. The story was the same against New Jersey and Chicago, despite sneaking wins in both. For now, however, I’ll put my fears to rest (at least until Houston and New Orleans this week). The Warriors won Sunday with clutch contributions from across the roster. As long as different guys keep elevating their games when we need it most, this team will continue to be hard to beat.

Want to sum up all that is brilliant and frustrating about the Golden State Warriors in one easy package? Thursday night against the imploding New Jersey Nets, we managed a 22-0 run (scoring 16 points in 3 minutes), yet escaped with a win only by the thin margin of Vince Carter’s poor judgment. We alternated between being unstoppable and being unable to get a stop. When the highs and lows of our performance were finally stacked next to each other, we just barely came out ahead. Whether you fixate on the positives or negatives in this game is pretty good litmus test for your mood. Given how topsy-turvy this team still looks despite two ugly losses last week, I can confidently say that I’m just happy to be limping into the weekend with a win.

I’m a day late on Tim Kawakami’s interesting Q & A with Chris Mullin, but there’s too much good material here to pass up. Ultimately, what Mullin didn’t say looks to be much more important than what he actually did.

On Monday afternoon the Warriors lost to the worst team in the NBA. To my eyes, however, the Ws’ play was not much better or worse than in a few of the narrow wins over the last two weeks. Depending upon how you see the proverbial glass, that either makes this loss easier to take or the previous wins less comforting. Simply put, the Warriors have been playing with a very small margin for error. They made another strong run in the final 5 minutes of Monday’s game against the Wolves, but had dug themselves too deep a whole at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth to recover. When it comes to putting away a bad team or letting them hang around, you can tell a lot from the numbers.

Friday night in Chicago the Warriors proved just how entertaining self-destruction can be. There’s no denying the hugeness of Baron’s careen night and the clutch roles played by Jackson, Barnes, and Ellis. The devil here, unfortunately, is in the details. It took 40 points and 45 minutes from Baron to beat a 15-22 team in utter disarray after firing its coach and watching its young and old players square off against each other. The already busted up Jackson ran for 44 minutes on a bad toe. Monta Ellis logged 45, a third of which came on a tender knee after getting crushed yet again on a drive to the hoop. Our bench consisted of Matt Barnes, delivering a vintage performance. Azubuike and Pietrus barely broke sweats (although they took home a combined 6 fouls in 15 minutes as consolidation prizes). The Warriors walked (limped?) away with a win — and for that I’m thankful — but there was more than a whiff of desperation in the air. Something has to give. Hopefully it won’t be Baron’s knees.

I wrote this piece for Golden State of Mind earlier this week for posting on Thursday. I’d be reading it now in a much better mood had we not completely fallen to pieces against the Pacers Wednesday night, but the main point still stands. Throw out all the numbers and formulas. I still love what Chris Mullin did one year ago today.